Teemu Hartikainen interviews with the Cult of Hockey

While first-round draft picks like Jordan Eberle, Magnus Paajarvi, and Taylor Hall get the hype and take the fast track to the NHL, the path for lower-round selections is more labourious. It is nonetheless essential for a contending team to draft, follow, and ultimately develop depth / role players if not actual stars within their organization.

None of the players in the Oilers’ system beyond the NHL have come further any faster than Teemu Hartikainen. Plucked from the barrens of the sixth round (163rd overall) in 2008, Teemu draw attention right away, winning the Wasama Trophy as rookie of the year in the Finnish SM Liiga. His 17 goals with KalPa Kuopio that 18-year-old season were more than Jari Kurri scored at a similar age, more than Olli or Jussi Jokinen, more than the Koivu brothers.

After a second productive season with KalPa where he completed his mandatory military service, “Harski” came to North America this past fall, making a decent impression at Oilers camp before being sent down to Oklahoma City for some AHL seasoning. After a predictably slow start, Teemu has seen both his points and plus/minus figures surge, currently ranking fourth on the Barons in scoring with 15-20-35 in 59 games. He had a particularly impressive January in which he was named the AHL Rookie of the Month. Already an imposing physical specimen at 6’1, 215, he plays a grinding physical style and seems to relish the tough areas of the ice.

We caught up with the 20-year-old left winger when the Barons visited Calgary last week, and were impressed with both his game and the advancing state of his “Finnglish”.

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Cult of Hockey: I wanted to ask you about the adjustment to North American culture. What are you finding the toughest, the language adjustment, the cultural adjustment, or the hockey itself?

Teemu Hartikainen: Of course, language is big thing. I didn’t speak good English before I came here, and now I hang around with guys and speak with them, it’s so much easier now. Then of course culture, it’s a big difference for me, so many more games all the time. 80 games we play here, last year in Finland I played 53 games. Sometimes it’s hard to get good focus in the game because you played last night and the day before so that’s a big difference too. On the ice, it’s so much more physical, you don’t have that much time with the puck, you have to keep your head up all the time. That’s the big difference from Europe, there sometimes you can play a little bit slow and watch the puck, but here you have to know all the time where are the guys coming.

CoH: Are the players faster or is it simply the rink is more compressed?

TH: I think the rink is more compressed, that’s the big thing. I think the players are the same fast, both are pro leagues, the players are on the same level but it’s so much smaller ice over here.

CoH: One thing we noticed is that your stats right now are almost identical to last year – one more game played, one less goal, same number of assists, penalty minutes almost identical except you got a five minute major? Was that a fight? What happened?

TH: Yeah, it was a fight. It was maybe fifth or tenth game after I came here, and I [had] to prove I can fight so I can show the guys I’m not like, how am I going to say, a p***y. So I had to take one fight and show I can fight, and if somebody needs to I can go. But I don’t find the fights and I don’t ask some guy if they want to go, but if I hit some dirty hits then I have to fight.

CoH: Who was it?

TH: It was [San Antonio Rampage’s Bracken] Kearns.

CoH: You were AHL Rookie of the Month in January, so the obvious question is, what took you so long?

TH: (deadpan) I don’t know, culture, language, everything together, it took me 30 or 40 games to get comfortable, so now I know exactly what I have to do if I want to go up. Now it’s so much better than before, for instance I was confused with what the coach was saying, it was such a big difference for me.

CoH: I’m joking a little bit of course …

TH: (smiles) Yeah, I know.

CoH: … congratulations, that’s a fantastic accomplishment. What do you see as your timeline for getting to the NHL? Do you have hopes of playing with the Oilers even this season, or are you looking ahead at least one more year?

TH: I hope this year of course, if I can keep good playing, but I think maybe next year. It’s my goal to play next year in NHL at some point, spring or autumn, next year is a big goal for me. This summer I’m going to have to work really hard if I want to go there, (especially) development of my skating all the time.

CoH: One last question, thank you. What do you see as your strengths as a player, what will you bring to the Oilers that they need?

TH: I’m a gritty player, hit the guys, good forechecking all the time. I bring heart, I want to win, I want to win all the time – not just find the easiest ways, but be in the corners, drive in front of the net, go there and score the goals and be a team player.

CoH: Thank you very much Teemu, and good luck to you in the future. We look forward to seeing you in Edmonton real soon.

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